The Group's Gal
by Alien-Ariel
Summary: "I was thinking," Gordie started, "We really oughta get a girl." The four boys were silent for a moment. "Yeah! I mean, we don't want everyone thinking we're a bunch of homos." Teddy agreed. But do they know what they've gotten themselves into with Anet?
1. The Body

**Hello everyone! I'm glad to see you reading my story. This will be a Teddy/OC story, but I'll give equal face-time to all the boys. Because they're all so awesome.**

**Also, as a general note: this chapter happens just where the movie leaves off (everyone's 12/13 and they're just starting junior high). But the next chapters will be 5 or 6 years in the future, when everyone's 17/18 and seniors in high school.**

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**Tell me what you think, and enjoy!**

Gordie scaled the ladder to the treehouse trap door and pounded his fist against it with the appropriate secret knock, which proved difficult with a stack of books in his arms. The door being pulled open to admit him, Gordie first pushed up his school things before entering the preferred hangout for him and his three closest friends.

"C'mon Gordo, get your ass up here already." Teddy Duchamp complained behind a cloud of cigarette smoke.

"Go screw." Gordie told him as he flopped down on a bench, immediately reopening a book.

"How was your group work?" Chris Chambers asked his studious best friend with a smirk, dealing him, Teddy, and Vern a new hand. Gordie nodded and said something noncommittal.

"You gonna play?" Vern asked him, even though Gordie was already starting his homework.

"Does it look like he's gonna play, you retard?" Teddy said boisterously, rolling his eyes, "Damn, that one's done." He threw the smoldering end of his Winston out the window.

"Don't do that man! What if you set the field on fire? Then we'll have to build a new treehouse, which means we have to go back to the junkyard to scam more 2-by-4s. I don't want to do that, sincerely." Vern rambled on.

"Ooh, 'Chopper sick balls.'" Chris joked, laughing as Teddy begged for another cigarette, "No _way_ man, I'm cutting you off. You'll smoke my whole pack!" Teddy whined and Vern continued to go on about stealing more wood for the new treehouse they'd have to build once Teddy caught the field on fire.

"Alright, I can't concentrate." Gordie sighed, giving up on his history.

"Hey man, you want us to get quiet?" Chris asked him; Gordie just shook his head.

"That's right, Gordo man! We can work when we're dead." Teddy said, slapping him on the back. The others just laughed, "What?"

"That doesn't even make sense." Gordie said, shaking his head. For a while the only sounds in the treehouse were of Elvis's "Jailhouse Rock" and the slapping of cards on the make-shift table.

"I was actually thinking…" Gordie started, wondering if he should continue. The guys gave him their attention, "Nevermind, it's dumb." He said, feeling nervous.

"Nah man, what's up?" Chris prompted him, resting a hand on Gordie's shoulder.

"Well, I was thinking, now that we're in junior high," Gordie continued after a breath, "That we really oughta get a girl."

There was a thick silence, everybody staring at Gordie. Was it a bad idea, or the _best_ idea? Did he mean one for each of them, or one to share? And how does one "get" a girl anyway? Do you have to ask them to be your friend, or did it just happen like with guys? And where to find a girl they all could get along with? Did girls still have cooties, and if they did, were cooties so bad? Teddy was the first to speak.

"Yeah! I mean, we don't want people thinkin' we're a bunch of homos." He said, apparently agreeing with Gordie, who relaxed. Vern nodded eagerly, saying something about "not being no homo."

"But _girls_ are so lame." Chris said with a shrug. Gordie had an answer prepared.

"Well I met this girl in my history group! She's on the level, real different, ya know?" He said, growing more excited.

"What's she like?" Vern asked, sounding interested.

"Well, she's funny… and smart." He continued, laughing at a memory, "Sarcastic even."

"Oh come on. Funny?" Chris tested whether Gordie was exaggerating.

"Oh yeah." Gordie assured the leader of the group. He paused, again debating if he should add what he was thinking, "And she's pretty." There was another stretch of silence.

"Pretty like how?" Teddy broke the tension again.

"Well I don't know." Gordie shrugged, "She's got nice hair." The others laughed, causing Gordie to flush.

"'Nice hair'? Gordie, you're a faggot." Teddy said, shaking his head. His screeching laugh was the last to drop off.

"Can it, Teddy." Chris said, "Ok Gordie, so she's pretty. What's our gal's name?"

* * *

"Anet Lafaith." I whispered in the still air of the cemetery, "That's who shoulda been buried next to you, Ray."

I sat on the raw earth of Ray Brower's grave, staring at the sleek marble headstone marking the head of my best friend's body. It had only been a few days since his funeral, and only about a week since the anonymous call that had led to the discovery of his body down by the back Harlow road. Ten whole days I'd known about his body's location before someone else found Ray.

I can still see that train hitting him, my best friend. I had been walking along the train tracks, balancing on the rail. It was so dark that I didn't even see the train coming, and I was too distracted to hear it; I was too busy recounting my most recent crazed thoughts about this and that as Ray picked blueberries for us to eat on our way home. The next thing I knew, Ray was yelling my name and pushing me squarely in the back. I fell into the ivy on the other side of the tracks and whipped my head around just fast enough to see Ray take the full force of the train. That was like Ray to sacrifice himself.

Waiting for the train to pass felt like hours. I just remember calling to him over and over, thinking he was on the other side waiting for me, and he just couldn't hear me over the freight. I blocked the image of the train hitting him from my mind in that moment. He had dodged it at the last second, just like he always had before. It took a lot of reflection to finally extract what I'd seen from my mental block. And I wish I could forget it all over again.

When the train finally passed, I felt ten years older. And as I saw his crumpled body at the base of the hill, I felt as though I'd aged even more. I tripped in my haste to get to him and I fell right beside him. Looking up through my reddish brown bangs, I stared into his bloodied face. I said his name, no longer calling to him; he was dead and couldn't hear me. I just laid my head on his chest, still warm, and closed my eyes.

Something snapped in me after I fell asleep against the dead body of my best friend. I had always been a little off, my sister made sure to tell me how weird I was; but now it was different. I _felt_ how crazy I was. It was like being aware of my breathing, and how Ray no longer did. It was an epiphany. I was insane. My best friend Ray Brower was dead beside me. I had slept beside his body quiet peacefully for several hours. I was insane.

I didn't leave until I heard a car drive down the back Harlow road towards the tracks. I left silently, looking and smelling like death. And for as much as I felt, I could have been as dead as Ray. I couldn't bring myself to tell anyone about him.

"Anet?" I heard behind me. Turning my head away from the headstone I saw Gordie Lachance with three boys I vaguely recognized from the hallways.

"_That's_ your Anet? The crazy-" One started to say before being cut off by another.

"Hello Gordie." I greeted the skinny boy from my history group, "Can I help you?"

"Actually yeah." He said, smiling and walking over to me. The others followed him. I stood and brushed the dirt off my denim shorts.

"These are my friends." He said, and introduced them, "We were just going to our treehouse. Did you want to come along?"


	2. Summer 1964

**Ok, here's chapter 2! Something new to say, except to ask for some reviews.**

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Seventh grade seems so long ago. Had it really been five years since I'd met my boys? Since Ray had died? Since I'd gotten completely out of my mind? Time flies.

Presently, the five of us were walking down the main street towards Vern's house, our graduation robes hanging loosely around our shoulders. Tromping through the tall grass in Vern's back field towards out makeshift hangout, a structure made of hocked wood from the junkyard no better than a shack, we were silent. Once inside, we threw down our caps but kept the robes on over our regular clothes. The silence lasted a few moments longer before Chris cheered loudly, Teddy pumped a fist in the air, and Vern started babbling away and gesticulating as fast as ever. I flopped down on the couch that used to furnish Vern's living room before his mom redecorated the house, next to my best friend.

"Gordie man," I said to him, totally deadpan, "We fuckin' _graduated_!" I yelled, pouncing on him. We laughed and screamed like we were twelve years old again while the others did about the same.

"We're done! No more." I smiled into his face as he grinned back.

"We're done." Gordie agreed. There were choruses of things along the same lines as someone pulled me off Gordie and swung me around the room. My shrieks melded with the guys' laughs into one cacophony of sound. It was the best fucking noise I'll ever remember, the sound of all of us together, just being happy.

We were staying the night in the little hovel we'd built a few years back, after a windstorm blew the treehouse to the ground. Our candles were still burning at three in the morning. And we had mellowed quite a bit, being worn out had made us all very philosophical and sentimental. Smoking some after-dinner Winstons helped chill us out too.

The guys were talking about something of little importance to me, something from before I met them, about Teddy falling out of a tree. Not being able to add to the conversation at hand, I just laid peacefully on the couch, my feet on Gordie's lap, staring into the flickering of the candle on the table in the center of the room. I smiled softly as I glanced over each face sharing the space with me, the faces of my boys.

There was Vern Tessio, who hadn't thinned out at all since puberty; it didn't really matter to me, or anyone else for that matter. Vern had always been slightly heavier than the rest of us; to be anything else would be against what made Vern, well Vern. I was very close with him, especially when I was having a rough patch. I didn't usually talk about my problems, for fear that I'd let something _especially_ crazy slip in my weakened state; so I'd go to Vern to be talked at until I felt better. He wasn't much for listening, which I actually appreciated. He was still a sweetheart, and never pried. He could have me feeling happy in a matter of minutes on a good day. Even though he didn't actually solve my problems, time spent with Vern was never time wasted.

Chris Chambers was sitting opposite me, his face partially obscured by the flame of the candle. He had grown tall and rugged within five years, but still maintained an overall innocence many found charming. Of all the boys, Chris and I got along the worst. That's not to say I didn't like Chris; we just had a tendency to butt heads. He being the leader, Chris liked to know everything about all of us; and I, being the stubborn girl I am, didn't appreciate him meddling in my affairs like my father. Also, I had some kind of power, being the only girl in the group, which seemed to rub him the wrong way. But we still got along. He was protective and really cared about keeping us all safe; I could tell he would go on to be an excellent person. He had done very well in his college classes during junior high and high school; he'd get out of Castle Rock and do great things.

I felt Gordie Lachance, my best friend, rest a hand on my ankle, causing me to look down the couch towards him. Still as skinny as when I'd first met him, I had to wonder if he'd always be a beanpole. Not to mention he was the tallest of all of us, getting on 5'11" or 6". Gordie and I were very similar; it was class that brought us together and brains that bonded us. He, Chris, and I had been some of the smartest kids in our graduating class; none of us got Valedictorian though. I smiled, thinking how deep Gordie was in the "friend zone". I'm not sure if he'd ever thought of me as more, but lord knows I never did. Poor guy. He was so sweet, but he just wasn't my number. Don't get me wrong, I love Gordie, he was special. And he's make some girl very happy in university, but that girl's name would never be Anet Lafaith. Alphabetical friends were forever, but we'd never date. But I think that's what we were brought together for, so the both of us will always have the other. Nothing more, nothing less. He was there for me even when I told him not to be. The kid had taken hits for me! And worse, one time junior year. He'd never know how much I appreciated him being my friend. Gordie was something else.

And then there was Teddy Duchamp. As if hearing my thoughts, aforementioned boy reached a hand down to push back my bangs so I could see his face, behind the huge horn-rimmed glasses he'd always had. Understanding what we wanted, I sat up slightly so he could move from the armrest to seat cushions. I laid my head back down in his lap, a smile on my lips as he continued to play with my hair.

Teddy and I were kindred spirits. We were both fucking insane; when we weren't stable we were incoherent to anyone but the other guys. It was something to bond over, but we also seemed to share something I didn't have with the other boys. Something hard to label. It was weird to try to describe, but that didn't keep me from spending hours thinking about it. In the end I called it sex appeal, but I also knew it wasn't that superficial. My love for Teddy wasn't like my love for Vern or Chris or even Gordie; it was singular, unique, and unequalled. I just didn't like feeling more strongly for one of them than I felt for the others; it wasn't something I did, having favorites. So only in my mind did I acknowledge any of this.

The first time I noticed this connection to Teddy was in the summer before high school. The boys were in the throes of full-blown puberty, being at that weird age of transitioning from tweens to teenagers. I had been stable for a whole two years, girls starting earlier, but being around four boys hyped on testosterone all the time made me feel hormonal all over again. Like a contact high but with more tears and raging; it wasn't that fun. We were all pretty unbalanced that summer, and it conveniently reached a peak on the hottest day of the year. We were swimming in the "lake", which was really an old flooded quarry; this had quickly become the boys' favorite past time.

I had exited the water not long after entering; I preferred not to be half naked around the guys when they were this hormonal. Changing behind a big tree, I didn't even bother to towel dry myself, just wanting to cover up fast. I guess it worked out fine, in retrospect; it wouldn't have mattered with what happened next. Just as I slipped my baggy shirt over myself, someone peered around the tree.

"Teddy!" I had screamed, pulling the hem of my T-shirt over my underwear as best as I could. I remember him not saying anything as he came to stand in front of me, still dripping wet. His hands were warm on either side of my face as he leaned in to kiss me. I don't know where it came from, but an explosion of ecstasy catapulted me forward to him, my arms wrapping around his neck as his hands moved to hold my waist. I was soaked by the time Gordie came looking for us. I don't think he saw us, but he could probably piece together what had happened when he saw our guilty looks. I don't think we ever talked about it, Gordie and I. But I know for sure Teddy and I never did; we didn't know what to say, or if we even should think about it. We'd had other moments since then, but nothing ever quite like that very first kiss. My first kiss. I wondered if he knew that. I don't know; I don't know how to ask if he knew. We never mentioned it again, so nothing came of our kiss behind the tree that summer.

And I had to wonder if anything ever would. Looking up into Teddy's face, I caught his eyes. We just stared at each other, and I somehow knew that he was thinking about it too.

Maybe this summer, the summer of 1964, would be different for us. Maybe something would change.


	3. Getting Serious

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I was in Teddy's closet of a room a few days after graduation. Having already been packed for a week and keen with anticipation about our road trip tomorrow, I had decided to make sure the least responsible member of our group had started on his luggage too. Of course he hadn't. That was like Teddy.

"How many shirts should I bring?" He asked me as he dug through his dresser. I rolled my eyes.

"We'll be gone all summer, Teddy. Pack what you've got." I replied, knowing he didn't have that much clothing anyway, only what his dad had left him. Teddy refused to wear anything else until his dad got better. Shrugging, he gathered an armful of clothing and deposited it into his trunk in a heap. I shook my head as he went back for a second load. Pulling the trunk towards my spot on his bed, I began to sort his stuff.

"Let me know how many boxers are in there already." He said to me, dumping everything else onto the pile I had started to sort.

"Hey!" I complained as he went to gather anything else he wanted to pack from his shelf, "I don't have to do this, ya know. Grow up already."

"I don't grow up, I shut up. And when I look at you I throw up!" He mocked me, like when we were kids.

"You said it backwards, you dip shit." I said as I folded his shirts and packed them away, a sarcastic little smirk playing on my lips.

"Not my fault you said it in the wrong order." I just shook my head at him and threw a pair of boxers his way.

"Those are dirty. Have your mom clean them, would you?" I said, folding more of his stuff. Teddy sniffed what I'd thrown at him experimentally, shrugged again and added them back to my pile. There was no point in telling him how disgusting that was to a girl, because he'd just laugh about it. Sighing, I continued my work.

At the start of junior year, I had proposed this crazy idea of a summer-long road trip to the guys after we graduated. It was pretty common for graduates to get out for a while before they started university, but not many of them went on cross-country journeys by car. They had actually liked the sound of it, and we had been saving our money ever since. We had opened a savings account in Gordie's name, figuring he'd be the best of us to watch the finances for our trip.

Vern, Gordie and I had no problems contributing, because we all had been working part-time jobs since we were sixteen. Vern was helping his grandpa at one of the local grocery stores, and made really good money from it; being related to the owner helped him get a ton of hours every week. Gordie had followed his interests to the library, working by restocking the books and doing repairs when need be; he didn't get a lot of hours, but it paid the best out of all our jobs. I did filing work down at the local police station. My dad is a detective and put in a good word for me; I hated it, but money was money. At the end of the week, we'd write our paychecks over to Gordie, who would deposit them into the account. The interest wasn't great over two years, but we were raking in so much that it didn't matter.

Chris and Teddy gave what they could when they could. I don't think it would bother anyone if they didn't add to the trip fund, but they were guys with good morals. They weren't going to accept any handouts, and would find ways to add what they could. No one around town would hire Chris, "that young Chambers kid", but he found odd jobs every once in a while. Once he'd even worked as temporary security for an Elvis concert which had come to town for some reason; he even sneaked us all in to watch the show. We never got caught, and got to stay the whole show, but one of the other morphodites in security had ratted Chris out. He was fired, but still got paid for the one time he worked; we all agreed it was worth it, since we got to see Elvis. When he was hard pressed to find an odd job, Chris would even go as far as to steal from his dad's stash. He'd have to stay a whole week at Gordie's house after a stunt like that; but Chris couldn't ever deal with the feeling of not contributing enough.

Teddy simply lacked the ability to hold a stable job. It was either his physical short-comings, with his ear and eyes, or his apparent mental disturbance that held him back; either way, no one wanted to hire Teddy. Instead, he switched to nontraditional methods of making money. He could always tell what would make a good pawn and what wouldn't; he got so good at judging something's value that we could go on a trip to the junkyard, pay a few cents to the gullible junkyard manager, and sell it again elsewhere for up to five times what we paid for it. Of course, we didn't have many qualms with doing this; the junkyard manager had it coming, what with the way he treated us all. And if there would be a stretch of nothing interesting to pawn, Teddy would just sell stuff from his room. I'll never forget the adventure we'd had when he dismantled his old wooden bedframe so we could sell it off piece by piece. It actually went for quite a sum, since it was an antique! After his mom found out what he'd done, she'd denied him the chance to use his dad's old army cot as punishment. This would be why I was currently sitting on a mattress on the floor.

At this point, the day before we left, we'd amassed a substantial sum of money. It was nice knowing we wouldn't have to go hungry or sleep in our car on our trip across the country, New York City to be specific.

Being from a town like Castle Rock, a teen got to wondering what else the world could offer. Going to a big city and doing tourist things like riding a real-life subway, taking an elevator to the top floor of a skyscraper, and fearing for your life in an alley was magical to us small town kids; we'd all been born in Castle Rock. Gordie said it was like our world; and we wanted to expand our world. We were looking forward to that, but New York was just a means to an end, a goal if you will. We were really much more excited about all the shit we'd do until we moved into my cousin's New York apartment in mid-July, where we'd stay for the rest of our summer. Beyond that, I didn't want to think about it. When we all split up for university.

Teddy flopped down next to me after adding the entire portable contents of his room into his trunk, as if it had been exhausting; he really didn't have much left, so it shouldn't have been. I just gave him a look, one eyebrow raising into my redish-brown bangs. He smirked in return and hooked an arm around my waist to pull me down to his chest.

"All packed?" I asked, leaning over him. My tone was the same as always, husky but sarcastic, despite the fact that Teddy's touch was setting my skin on fire. He shrugged in response, that stupid smirk still on his face.

"Are you excited for tomorrow?" I changed topics to elicit a response. He shrugged again because he knew it would make me angry. I glared at him as he laughed "eee-eee-eee".

"You're an asshole, Teddy." I said, trying to pull away from him. He just held me tighter, a blank look passing over his face.

"How long have we known each other?" He asked me. I was used to his rapid changes on topic, because I did the same thing.

"Since I was twelve. So probably a good six years." I answered. I gave up my attempt to get out of his arms and leaned on my elbows. He looked far away, so I asked him why he was wondering about it. He just shrugged again.

"Just thinking." He added when I got frustrated again, "Anet, you know I'm stronger than you. Just sit still and enjoy my company." I sighed and kissed his mauled ear to admit defeat.

"Whatever." I sighed, laying my head on his chest, his dad's dog tags cool against my forehead. We were quiet for a while, just listening to each other's breathing.

"Anet?" Teddy called to me in that same toneless voice. I grunted to let him know I was listening, but he made me turn my head to look at him, "Do you love me?"

I sat up on my elbows again, looking down into Teddy's face with my eyebrows furrowed together. His eyes weren't revealing what he was thinking, so I had to wonder what he meant, specifically.

"I love you all." I replied evenly, deciding that he was still speaking on the friend basis, "You, Gordie, Vern, Chris; I love you all equally."

"Bullshit." Teddy said, "You love Gordie the most." He sounded like a child scorned.

"That's not true." I said softly, laying a hand on his cheek. He gave me this tight-lipped look that could have meant anything from disbelief to indecision to anger. I felt him flip me over onto my back as he moved over me. Misinterpreting what he wanted, I laced my fingers behind his neck to pull him down to me, just as I'd done so many times before. He stayed as he was, leaning over me with his lips in a thin line.

"_Teddy_." I whined, thinking he was just making me wait, which wasn't beyond him. He had a habit of playing cat and mouse with me.

"I want you to love me the most." He said in this stone cold tone that still managed to be incredibly tender. I stopped trying to pull him down and felt my eyes widen.

"What?" I whispered, finding it hard to breath with how fast my heart was racing. Teddy raised a hand to brush some loose hairs from my face with the most careful gesture I'd ever felt from him.

"Anet, when are we going to get serious about each other?" Teddy asked me quietly as his eyes softened. For the first time I can remember, words failed me. I could only look at him for a few moments.

"I guess when you start acting serious." I replied once I grasped the ability to form words once more. He just gave me this curt little nod, apparently understanding what I needed him to do.

For the two of us to become seriously involved, we had to be serious individuals. Gordie and I had grown up years ago. And even Chris and Vern had become more responsible over the years. Teddy, for whatever reason, hadn't quite gotten there yet; but it was time he became an adult.

But he wanted to be serious! With me! I really couldn't hold back my euphoria.

Smiling at Teddy and laughing a little, I got him to crack the smallest of grins in the corner of his mouth as a half-grunt half-chuckle sounded in his throat. Finally succeeding in pulling him to me, Teddy and I kissed, as if to seal our agreement. Our budding relationship.


	4. Hadley

**Okie dokie! Here's chapter 4, guys. Sorry for any of the usual, weird grammar mistakes. I'm pretty tired right now. Just letting yins know, I've got finals next week. So the next update won't be until after then sometime.**

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"Anet dear, are you going somewhere?" I hear my grandma call to me from the living room.

"My trip, grandma." I say back, pulling my trunk down the stairs after me. Thunk-thunk-thunk.

"What?" She asked in that way all old people have, cupping a hand around her ear. I let my trunk slide the rest of the way down the stairs, it coming to a halt as it slammed into the opposite wall. I walked through the arch to the living room and sat on the couch beside my grandma's armchair.

"I go on my road trip with the guys today, grandma. I reminded you last night." I said patiently, smiling at the bemused look on her face. It didn't matter that I'd told her every day since graduation day; I knew she wouldn't remember. I certainly hope I never grow old like her.

"Oh. That's nice dear." She replied, nodding her smiling face, "So you'll be home later tonight then?" I laughed and grabbed her hands.

"I don't think so, grandma." I simply said. It was now that my older sister Marsha chose to enter the room and fall dramatically onto the other couch. She just gave me this penetrating glare.

"Ooh." I said, glancing her way, "The beast has awoken."

"What?" Grandma says again, looking for her glasses as Marsha flips me off. I crossed my eyes at her, which always grosses her out.

"You _woke_ me up." Marsha complains in a tone that hints she'd have attached a particularly nasty insult if grandma wasn't there.

"My condolences." I replied, doing a passable Italian mobster impression. Marsha didn't get it.

"You're a freak." She spat low enough to pass under grandma's radar.

"What?" Grandma asked me, confirming that Marsha had gotten away with that.

"Girls, act your ages." My dad said, also entering the living room.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the station today?" Marsha asked him, a little put out for being scolded like a child, at age twenty-one.

"I had to see my little girl off, didn't I?" He said, looking at me now. I smiled widely and stood to embrace him. My dad got me. He was one of the few people, other than my boys, who actually _got _me.

"Oh Daddy." I said, knowing only he could hear me. It meant more to me than he knew. A car horn sounded outside our window; sure enough, the guys had pulled up along the street beside our house.

"That'll be the guys." I said to my dad, giving him another quick hug, "Explain it to grandma again, would ya?" I asked him as well when she started wondering "what was going on now".

"Sure thing, dear. Go have an adventure, and call when you get to your cousin's apartment." Dad said. I smiled and nodded at him, crossed my eyes again at Marsha, and told grandma I loved her.

Grabbing my trunk, I hurtled out the door and across my lawn. Gordie caught me in a hug when he got out and Chris called hello from the driver's seat; we'd be taking the trip in Eyeball's old car, so Chris would do most of the driving. I could hear Vern yelling at Teddy to hurry his ass up; he lived across the street from me. I broke away from Gordie to add my trunk with the others in the back of the station wagon. Teddy was already opening the hatch when I got there.

"Hey." I said a little awkwardly. Teddy smiled a little.

"Hey." He repeated. We just stared for second, "Let me get that for you." He said, taking my trunk from me.

"Thanks Teddy." I said a little sweeter than usual. That wasn't something he'd have done before our talk yesterday, and I wanted to be appreciative and let him know I noticed.

"No problem Anet." He replied once he'd put both our trunks into the wagon. He hesitated a little before giving me a peck on the cheek. I grinned widely and he flushed. It was strange to see him nervous. I guess it's not uncharacteristic of Teddy to work backwards, not front. It would figure that he blushes at a little kiss on the cheek now when we've been kissing in more engaging ways for years. After all, I guess neither of us were normal; and I found I actually liked him blushing now. Taking his hand, we piled into the back seat with Vern, who looked so excited he could piss himself. I asked him if he'd taken his potty break yet; he didn't get it and just said he had. Teddy thought it was funny, but of course _he _got it.

We weren't far out of Castle Rock before we ran across a hitch-hiker. Being something of a common practice in the area, and probably anywhere in the country for that matter, none of us really thought anything about it. However, after one especially strange incident last summer with a guy we'd picked up, I didn't expect Chris to pull over. So imagine my surprise when he did. And imagine my greater surprise when this particular hitch-hiker was _a girl our age_. She had to be a runaway. Her lack of luggage only added to this suspicion.

"Letting me in?" The girl asked, leaning her tanned arms on the ledge of the window once Gordie rolled it down.

"Probably not?" Chris said back to the girl. Her eyebrows rose into her dark brown bangs, which were cut severely long over her forehead, brushing the tips of her eyelashes; her hazel eyes stayed playful though.

"_Probably _not?" I asked Chris, who shrugged at me. I glanced back to the girl. She was wearing a tan vest that looked like it belonged to a man, and her jeans were faded and ripped. However, she looked clean and well-fed; I figured her petite frame was natural to her, not from starvation. She couldn't have been out on the highway long.

"You're not gonna want to drive much farther on this highway on these tires." The girl changed the subject, staring Chris dead in the eyes without flinching, despite the severe look he was giving her, "If you take me as far as the Grand Canyon I'll show you a better way to go."

"Oh! We was heading there eventually anyways." Vern piped up.

"What's wrong with my tires?" Chris shot back heatedly, immensely proud of the station wagon and not in the mood to be told what's what by a hitch-hiking girl. Teddy punched Vern in the arm to shut him up before dropping it nonchalantly over my shoulders.

"Smooth, Teddy." Gordie said, looking at us in the rearview mirror. Teddy just smirked back at Gordie as I leaned into him.

"Play nice, kids." I chuckled when Gordie pulled a face.

"All you ankle-biters need to shut your traps." Chris yelled over us all, apparently short on patience today, "Now, _what_ is wrong with my tires, oh knowledgeable hitch-hiker?"

"Well," The girl continued, obviously amused, "The highway gets a little rough ahead, potholes and such. And I doubt tires this worn can handle it. Take me and I'll show you a better, faster way into Nevada. Then Arizona for the Grand Canyon, of course." She added with a smile at Vern, who damn near turned into a puddle.

"My tires are not worn out!" Chris remarked, sounding deeply insulted.

"Chris man, did you hear anything else she said?" Gordie asked him, somewhere between amusement and concern. But Chris just peeled out back onto the highway, earning a honk and the finger from the guy in the car he'd damned near hit in his haste to leave the girl in his dust.

Well, the girl sure hadn't been lying. For as much of a highway as this was, it could have easily passed for a back-country dirt road. Chris's tires had lasted us about three miles. And all the pride in the world wasn't gonna replace the flat we had landed ourselves with.

"Where the hell did all the cars go?" I complained from my spot on the hood of the car an hour later. My head fell back a little too hard against the windshield and I groaned.

"You ok, babe?" Gordie asked from beside me without opening his eyes, arms crossed tightly over his chest.

"Fine." I sighed.

"You nosebleeds wanna get off the fucking hood?" I heard Chris say testily from the ground, "I'm gonna try to jack this thing up again."

"Someone's salty." I mumbled, sliding off the hood; but I gave him a pat on the back as he slid the car jack beside the front tire. None of us knew how to change a tire, but Chris had been working very hard to figure it out.

"Screw this road." Vern whined from his spot on the ground, leaning against the back tire. He kicked a rock into the distance in frustration.

"It'll work out, bud." I told him, trying to smile, "It's not the end of the world. Yet."

"Yet?" He asked me, confused. But I was distracted by the cloud of dust billowing out as someone ran towards us from farther down the road.

"What's the news, Teddy?" Gordie called. I moved around Gordie to see Teddy jogging to stand before us. He was panting a little in the heat.

"The next town's not for another thirty miles says that sign." He told us, pointing at the faintly visible green blob wavering in the heat coming off the road, "Castle's Rock's closer."

We all groaned. It was pretty much agreed none of us wanted to go back home this early in the trip, even if it was due to a flat tire. What if returning broke our resolve, and we just stayed home all summer?

"I told you it would be too much for your tires." We all turned at the sound of another voice. The hitch-hiking girl from about an hour ago had apparently caught up to us. It's not like we'd gone far or anything.

"Move." She said to Chris as she pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"What?" He asked, obviously confused as to what she wanted. As if she hadn't been explicit enough. I pulled him away from the car jack by his collar, allowing the girl access to the flat and the tools she'd need to change it. It was fixed in a matter of minutes. The girl stood up and I smiled at her.

"Dad's a mechanic, I wager." I said as she let her hair loose again.

"Yeah." She replied, "Taught me everything I know." I nodded to express how impressed I was, which she understood.

"Thanks for the fix. You can ride with us." I told her before Chris made even more of an ass of himself by saying she still wasn't allowed to come, "I'm Anet. That's Gordie, and Vern's down there. My guy, Teddy." He confirmed this by taking my hand, a triumphant little smile on his face, "And that wet end is Chris. They're pleased to meet you." I said, noticing the sudden and unexpected look of admiration Chris was giving her. I'd never really seen him address a girl with such a look before. This was most unprecedented, but so very exciting. Maybe he'd want her to stick around.

"I'm Hadley." She said to us, placing her hands on her hips and a wide smile on her lips, "Hadley Rix. Happy to be travelling with you all."


End file.
